brad

Forms

brād (comparative brādre, superlative brādost)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-West Germanic *braid, from Proto-Germanic *braidaz (“broad”).^[1] Its cognates are Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (braiþs), Old Norse breiðr, Old Frisian brēd, Old Saxon brēd and Old High German breit.^[2][3][4] The ⟨ā⟩ is the regular Old English outcome of Proto-Germanic /ai/.^[5]

The further origin is unclear: Etymonline calls it unknown and notes that the word is not found outside Germanic.^[6] Orel thinks it probably goes back to a root Proto-Indo-European *bʰrey- (“to cut”), and Köbler names, with queries, roots meaning “to strew”.^[2][4] Wiktionary mentions a participle of *bʰer- (“to bear”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in the Pastoral Care (Hatton 20, 890×897): Swa swa wildu hors, ðonne we hie æresð gefangnu habbað, we hie ðacciað & straciað mid bradre hanða “Just as with wild horses, when we have first caught them, we pat and stroke them with the open hand”.^[7][8][9]

Semantic evolution

The adjective gives a measured breadth (an island twelve miles broad, a wall eight feet broad), great extent (a broad realm, the broad sea, the broad earth), the open hand, and flatness (a flat loaf, a flat pan).^[10][9] In Beowulf it describes a sword, a realm and the hoard.^[11] In the glosses it renders “latus”.^[4] It is frequent in the charter bounds and in place names, such as Brādanfeld, now Bradfield in Berkshire.^[12]

It lived on as Middle English brod and survives in English broad.^[1][6]

Timeline

• 890×897 – mid bradre hanða “with the open hand” in the Pastoral Care.^[7][8]
• s. x in. or xi¹ – a wall eahta fota bradne “eight feet broad” in the Old English Bede.^[13][8]
• s. x¹ or x²/⁴ – a city thirty miles round in the Old English Orosius.^[14][9]
• s. x/xi – brādne mēce “a broad sword” in Beowulf.^[15][10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. broad, wide, of a given breadth.^[10][4]
2. of great extent, spacious, large.^[10][11]
3. of the hand, open.^[9]
4. flat.^[9][4]

Word family

• brǣdu
• brǣdan
• brādlinga
• efenbrād
• unbrād

Descendants

• Middle English brod (→ English broad; Scots braid)^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill, p. 53
3. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, p. 31
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2014), Altenglisches Wörterbuch, 4th ed., online, koeblergerhard.de/wikiling, p. s.v. brād
5. ^ Ringe, Don; Taylor, Ann (2014), The Development of Old English, A Linguistic History of English II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. 170
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 499
8. ^ a b c Healey, Antonette diPaolo; Price Wilkin, John; Xiang, Xin, eds. (2009), Dictionary of Old English Web Corpus, Toronto: Dictionary of Old English Project
9. ^ a b c d e Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. Suppl. 103
10. ^ a b c d Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement, p. 118
11. ^ a b Fulk, R. D.; Bjork, Robert E.; Niles, John D., eds. (2008), Klaeber's Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg, 4th ed., Toronto: University of Toronto Press (glossary), p. s.v. brād
12. ^ Middendorff, H. (1902), Altenglisches Flurnamenbuch, Halle: Niemeyer, p. 17
13. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 531
14. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 249
15. ^ Gneuss, Helmut; Lapidge, Michael (2014), Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts: A Bibliographical Handlist of Manuscripts and Manuscript Fragments Written or Owned in England up to 1100, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, p. 344